Are Leopards' four heads better than one?

A lot has been made this summer about the bevy of tailbacks Lafayette figures to trot out against the opposition. Three seniors lead the group; and on paper, the prospects do appear bright.

A year ago, Tyrell Coon and Maurice White put their heads together and racked up a combined 212 yards on 35 carries in a 24-6 victory. The rest of the running game, though, was -14 on 16 carries.

When Leopard Coach Frank Tavani released his latest two-deep information last week, he asked to put four guys on the chart -- Coon, White, Jerome Rudolph and DeAndre Morrow. You can debate long and hard on the merits of the by-committee approach to the game as compared to focusing on one back and building the running game around him.

Maybe Tavani has learned not to lean too hard on any one guy, lest you find yourself playing big-time catch-up if that guy happens to get hurt. In each of the last two seasons, Lafayette has had to go at least six deep at running back because of an assortment of injuries. In fact, late last season, the Leopards had fullback Joe Russo playing some tailback because of the scarcity of healthy bodies.

Tavani talks about saving White for Patriot League games down the stretch. However, if the fifth-year senior is the best of the lot -- which he seems to be right now -- there could be a danger in holding him back for games that don't matter.

Lafayette cannot afford to think it has the raw talent to put away any opponent, and that includes opening-night foe Georgetown. For the first time, the Hoyas actually have 17 starters returning from a year ago, and in their opener last week, the threw a scare at preseason favorite Holy Cross before succumbing to all-everything quarterback Dominic Randolph in the fourth period.

This is not to say, though, that G-town showed much offensively. After an opening drive that consisted of ninew passes and three runs and ended in the end zone, the Hoyas did almost nothing the rest of the game. Eight times, they went three-and-out.

A couple of good defensive efforts -- one after Holy Cross got a first down at the Hoya 3, another time when the Crusaders were first-and-goal at the 10 -- kept the game close until Randolph finally took care of business.

Lafayette will give G-town a much different look than Holy Cross did. When the Crusaders got in deep, their first option was to throw the ball -- why not, with a guy like Randolph as a weapon. But the QB was inneffective -- four incomplete passes in those two opportunities.

Lafayette is more likely to try to run the ball in.With first down on the 3, Tavani and offensive coordinator Mickey Fein will probably look for a power guy like White to get the job done behind an offensive line that has plenty of experience. The biggest problem could be the fact that some of those O-linemen didn't get a lot of hitting time during summer camp because of some nagging injuries. Will they be as sharp as they'll need to be to make the red-zone offense effective?

Quarterback Rob Curley scored twice against the Hoyas last season on one-yard runs. That's the kind of offense Tavani would like to establish -- eat up the clock, put the defense back on its heels and then stick it in the end zone with a sneak.

The Leopards will have to try to keep their adrenalin in check, too, on Saturday night. The players undoubtedly sat around and watched a lot of other teams open their seasons over the weekend while they had their bye week. It has been a long time since the first day of summer camp on Aug. 12, and they've hit no one except their own buddies.

I'll be paying close attention to all three phases of the game Saturday night.

Defensively, it'll be the first time in years that Lafayette opens without Andy Romans at linebacker. Mark Leggiero is outstanding. The new guy in the lineup is Quakertown High grad Nate Dixon, a junior who played in nine games last year but had just two tackles and five assists. The linebackers are important pieces of the John Loose puzzle, and Dixon, working on the strong side, will get his baptism early. I'll also watch a couple of listed starters who will be playing with broken hands -- end Allan Whitesell and cornerback Brandon Ellis. And, like Dixon, junior end Doug Gerowski will be making his first collegiate start.

Offensively, a lot of focus will be on the offensive line. The guy I'm watching is Joe Moore, a fifth-year senior tackle who missed last season with an ACL injury and who also spent a good part of summer camp in sweats. The 290-pounder moved into the starting lineup as a junior back in 2007, and the Leopards will be counting on his experience. Seniors dominate the O-line. New line coach Stan Clayton has been relentless since coming on board in the spring. How will his "drive it! ... drive it! ... driove it!" message play out on first-and-goal at the opponents' 6?

Special teams really could be this year. Davis Rodriguez is a steady placekicker -- 21-for-28 on field goal attempts and 63-for-66 on PATs in his first two seasons. He has a 50-yard leg. Punter Tom Kondash is sneaky good; he put 22 kicks inside the opponents' 20-yard line last year, and I can't tell you how many times he seemed to get the perfect roll -- none of them, though, like the one that ended up as a 79-yarder against Holy Cross. But the guy I'm anxious to see is sophomore returner Greg Stripe. He returned a kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown against Fordham last year. and I think people will be trying to kick away from him this year after he burns a couple of them early in the year. He was the team's rookie of the year last year, and I think he'll contribute with the offense as well as with special teams this year.

But in the final analysis, I think those tailbacks have to deliver. Rudolph is the sleeper of the bunch. He had a 140-yard game against Fordham last year, and he seems to run so effortlessly. I look forward to the day he's 15 pounds heavier and no slower than he is today; but in the meantime, inserted in the right situations, he'll show you something. And no one has any more to prove than White. He's not going to be a pro back; so the fact that he chose to return for a fifth year tells you how much he wants it. He is Tough with the capital T. So, it's Boom, Zoom, Coon and Rudy. Bring it on!